A boy's corpse was reportedly found in a garage freezer after police officers found the child's mother held hostage by her abusive boyfriend in Las Vegas, on Tuesday, Feb. 22.
On Tuesday, Feb. 22, the authorities launched a homicide investigation after a young girl handed her elementary school teacher an alarming note from her mother claiming that her partner was holding her against her will inside their home, Daily News reported.
"She stated that she didn't know where her younger child was, and that she believed he was deceased," Lieutenant Ray Spencer, Las Vegas homicide officer, said about the contents of the note.
The teacher who received the letter alerted authorities shortly after 8 a.m. Tuesday. Following this, a team of Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers began surveilling the family's home in northeast Las Vegas.
At around 10 a.m., the children's mother and her boyfriend, identified as Brandon Toseland, 35, were seen leaving the residence on the 4300 block of Saddle Brook Park Drive inside a vehicle. Police officers immediately pulled the car over in the neighborhood and detained Toseland.
After the authorities interrogated the woman, she stated that she had not seen her son since Dec. 11, 2021, and alleged that she had been suffering months of abuse at the hand of her boyfriend, Reno Gazette-Journal reported.
"She said she was not allowed to leave the house alone or go into the garage," Spencer said.
The police arrested Toseland, who is not the father of the children, and booked him into the Clark County Detention Center in downtown Las Vegas on two counts of first-degree kidnapping.
Toseland reportedly had been previously arrested several times in Las Vegas on charges including domestic battery and disorderly conduct. The charges date back to as early 2005.
Following Toseland's arrest, Spencer and his team searched his home after securing a search warrant on Tuesday afternoon. After they scoured the accused's residence, they reportedly found the body of the woman's son in a freezer located in the house garage, where the kidnapping victim said she was not allowed to enter.
Spencer called the case "such a tragic situation," and did not reveal details about how the boy may have died.
Meanwhile, the woman's daughter was placed in the care of relatives.
Even though the mother is not currently believed to be involved in the death of her son, officers stated that it is too early to conclude that the investigation into the incident is ongoing.
"But it’s still early on," Spencer said, "and there are a lot of questions that we still have to answer about what occurred over the last three months."
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